Douglas Trumbull's "Brainstorm"| VoicesFILM Welcomes Duke

He picked up his pen and began putting word to paper again for you, the VoicesFILM soldiers … The ones who were mad as hell with the film world…

And screamed!

“WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!”

Oh, how I missed his words…

and how they would stir within me

THE RAGE OF A THOUSAND OCEANS!!!!!!!

ALAS,

HE IS HERE!!!!!!!!

DUKE HAS RETURNED

Eh em.

Tonight…

Duke presents us with his very first film review, the film he has chosen for this momentous occasion is 1983’s “Brainstorm“

This is his brand, this is his show, he doesn’t dabble in mediocrity.
His memory with film is unparalleled and photographic. He is a warrior for the finest of celluloid, the forgotten films that we here at Voices: FILM & TV celebrate.

And gasoline?
It runs in his veins.

In fierce honesty, our meeting was fate 20 years ago. Our friendship has been strong since then…

He is Duke.

He is, my friend.

Please welcome him, we are lucky and privileged to have his words here.

Duke here.

So there I was at 3AM. Online as usual and a Singapore Sling with Mezcal on the side within arm’s reach. The American Spirit yellow is hanging from my lip, it’s smoke curling up in my face making me squint as I looked at the screen. I was clicking on sites at random like an angry spider on his web going from thread to thread, not caring where it took me. Left …. Right … it didn’t matter I just went. Then something caught my eye. It was a article on a science website. Apparently some Walter Bishop type scientists were able to transfer the memories of one mouse into the mind of another. Or so they say. I’ll let you be the judge.

The experiment consisted of two mice (mouse 1 & mouse 2) and two identical mazes. Electrodes were attached to their heads to monitor brain activity . Phase I – Both mice were sent into the maze the same number of times. Both mice completed the maze in about the same time. Phase II – They then let mouse 1 run the maze over and over again while mouse 2 didn’t. Eventually mouse 1 was able to cut the original Phase I time in half as he learned the maze. Phase III – The scientists then connected the electrodes of mouse 1 as the sender with the electrodes of mouse 2 as the receiver, effectively linking them and sent them both back into the maze. Apparently it took mouse 2 half the amount of attempts to reach the completion time of mouse 1 from Phase II. Their conclusion was that the memories of the knowledge of the maze from mouse 1 were electronically transferred to mouse 2 via electrical impulses. As I read that, long dormant neurons in my brain awoke like smoldering embers of a fire being blown by the wind. Embers that made me think of a little gem of a movie called “Brainstorm”. For those who know this movie sit back and enjoy the ride, for those who don’t … get in.

“Brainstorm” came out in 1983 and I don’t remember it doing well at the box office at the time. When I first saw it there were twenty people in the theater with me and it was a 7PM show. But like any gem that’s first pulled out the ground, it’s doesn’t look like much until you polish it. Back then and in the years that followed, with movies like this, that polish had a name. It was called VHS. The movie had an ensemble cast Christopher Walken, Louise Fletcher, Natalie Wood and Cliff Robertson. All of them great actors. While mostly remembered as Natalie Wood’s last movie (I’ll save that discussion for another time) looking back, in my opinion, it was ground breaking not only in terms of technological vision but story as well. I don’t care how bad the execution of a movie is, if it’s got a good story I’m there. This movie has both great execution and a great story. I won’t go into the film in too much detail so all you readers who have never ridden in a convertible before will go in with a fresh mind. I’ll just give you a teeny, tiny taste.

The movie centers around Michael Brace (Walken), his wife (Wood) and his colleague (Fletcher) who work for a large corporation headed by Robertson. They’re all working on a project to create a device that’s able to tap into a person’s mind and record their experiences and memories. Walken and Fletcher are the software developers and Wood runs the Engineering Division in charge of building the device. Walken and Fletcher have a good chemistry and you really get the sense they’ve known each other for years. Walken and Woods are equally as good as they convey their marriage is strained and it’s like only their work is keeping them together.
The movie is great on many levels to those of you who know and to those who will see. In the first half the movie you see the whole development process of the device. Going from a giant and bulking mess of steel and wires looking like Professor Brown’s mind reading device (wait is this where those writers got the idea?!) from Back to the Future to eventually being no bigger than a pair of today’s headphones. This brings a certain believability to the device when you watch it evolve. I especially liked the POV scenes of the person wearing the device and experiencing someone else memories. At first the recordings were light hearted and harmless like riding a roller coaster, eating ice cream and some others which I’ll let you discover on your own. There’s an important subplot scene which takes place that I won’t divulge but it is crucial to the movies second half.

The second half of the movie can be summed up in four simple words … the government gets involved. You know this can’t be good. They come in and take over the project. They see the device not for its recreational potential but as a tool of espionage and as a weapon. Once Walken finds this out he gets trademark Christopher Walken pissed! The result is him being locked out of the project and has no access to the mainframe. But because of the previously mentioned important subplot he needs that access. The games is on! Does he get access or doesn’t he? You’ll have to watch it to find out. I need to get more ice for my Singapore Sling.

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Wes

Voices Film & TV: What is it?
Voices is, at its core, a blog and podcast devoted to celebrating the art of visual storytelling and expression in film, television and music.
We celebrate pop culture, news, people that live with passion and realize their dreams, cultural icons...
Inspirational people who live hard, and their wonderful achievements.
We have a solid team here, each filled with a passion to express their love of the arts and to celebrate those who move us.
Voices is the mountain top we climb to voice our opinions and praise from.
Voices started 4 years ago.
To "Voice” or state an opinion, to express a point of view...
My love for visual storytelling and artistic expression.
Articles have become podcasts.
I’m Wes Candela, and along with Brother Oldboy, we started this thing of ours.
“Speaking as a child of the eighties…”
The articles:
You will always read & hear passionate commentary, find film and television trailers and video clips, along with hi-resolutio! key-art and images.
The podcasts:
With podcasts, I mix the dialogue with audio clips from the topic at hand to bring the listener sonically into the conversation.
*Audiophile note:
* Each podcast episode or "Chapter" is recorded at 48 KHz 33 bit-float
* I record using a muti-track audio sessiin, then mix and master the independent tracks, creating a stereo master...all at 48 KHz 32 bit-float
* This is to preserve the vocal acoustics and dynamics.
* The final, published audio file is a lossy 48 KHz 320 kbps .MP3 file made from the stereo master
* The lossless master files are preserved and will be available for tdownload at http://voicesfilm.com in the future. (The site server space costs a bit, will make available as soon as possible)
* Please listen with headphones, earbuds or through good speakers if possible.
We don’t take the sound quality lightly.
We don’t take Voices Film & TV lightly.
If you like we do and you want to support the podcast, help us to put out episodes on a bi-weekly basis, we ask if you would please rate, review & subscribe to the Voices Film & TV podcast on iTunes
(https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voices-film-the-podcast/id989580803?mt=2)
It would be a massive help to us as we do this on our own dime and it helps people discover the show...and helps us more than you know.
And to the Voices Film troops who support us hear at Voices…
We know who some of you are, we want to know all of you…
and we love you to bits.
Truly.
Thank you for your dedication, feedback and constant love and support.
Every word matters to us.
Every.
Word.
Talk Hard.
Leave Your Mark.
– Wes Candela, 2017
View all posts by Wes

Celebrating Film, Television…Visual Storytelling. Leave Your Mark

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